Oi 



n-' 






D 541 
.11513 
Copy 1 




A Message 

from 

Cardinal Mercier 



Reprinted from 

EVERYBODY'S MAGAZINE 

APRIL, 1917 



/ 



DESIRE-JOSEPH, CARDINAL MERCIER, 
ARCHBISHOP OF MALINES, PRIMATE OF BELGIUM 



CARDINAL MERCIER, 
Archbishop of MaHnes, 
was acclaimed "the great- 
est hero of the war" by a 
vast gathering of eminent Ameri- 
cans of all faiths and professions 
assembled last January in Carnegie 
Hall, New York, to protest against 
the German deportations of Belgian 
workmen. 

Certainly his heroism in risking 
life and liberty by lifting up his 
voice against the oppression of his 
flock, has made his name an honor 
to Belgium, and an honor to Chris- 
tianity throughout the world. 

The illustrious Belgian prelate 
was even before the war a most 
prominent figure. Eleven years 
ago, Mercier was a professor at the 
University of Louvain. His science 
and talent were so highly appre- 
ciated, not only in Belgium but 
also in Rome, that when Cardinal 
Goossens, .\rchbishop of Malines, 
died, the Pope called on Professor 
Mercier to become the Belgian 
archbishop's successor. This is 
l)erhaps without precedent, the 
archbishop being usually chosen 
from among the bishops. A year 
later he was created cardinal. 

It is a little-known fact that, as 
the Archbishop of Malines, he en- 
joys the right of precedence over all 
other archbishops of his faith. 

.\fter the death of Pius X. in 
August, 1014, notwithstanding the 
old tradition that an Italian prelate 
should be elected Pope, and the 
fact that Belgium, already invaded 
by Germany, had been forced into 
war, several votes were cast in the 
Conclave for Cardinal Mercier. 

It is said that if the war hail 
not occurred, the Conclave, breaking with 
a centuries-old tradition, would have been 
inclined to elect the Belgian cardinal as 
the head of the Catholic Church. 

A year before the war. Cardinal Mercier, 
long since a prominent member of the Bel- 
gian Royal Academy of Science, Letters, 
and Fine .\rts, was unanimously elected by 




his colleagues, of all denominations, as 
president of this most distinguished body. 
Since the invasion of Belgium and the 
occupation of the greater part of the country. 
Cardinal Mercier has commanded the ad- 
miration of the world for his patriotism, 
dignity, and his splendid devotion to his 
fellow countrymen in their suffering. 



{~\JLM^ fU^ 



<2jo^ 



^ O 



^*' A MESSAGE FROM 
CARDINAL MERCIER 

Cardinal Mercier is now practically a prisoner in Belgium. War conditions have made 
It difficult for him to express to the world, except through official Church channels, his 
views and feelings about the violation of Belgium. Never since the beginning of the war 
has he written for any magazine. EVERYBODY'S feels deeply gratified at having suc- 
ceeded in overcoming the many difficulties in the way of reaching the illustrious prelate to 
secure the following message to the American people. 



Malines, January 23, 1917. 
To the Editor of Everybody's Magazine: 

You have very kindly expressed the desire to receive from Belgium a page of psychol- 
ogy and history, which will inform you in regard to the state of the soul of the Belgian 
nation, under pressure of events of the present hour. 

I shall not conceal from you that for an instant I hesitated to respond to your request, 
because I feared that I might seem to deviate from the line of conduct that I have laid 
down for myself since the commencement of the war. As a shepherd of souls, I wish 
only to ser\'e the moral and religious interests of my people. I should not wish that my 
contribution to a review, even though it be Everybody's Mag.\zine, should be inter- 
preted by either our enemies or our friends as an intrusion into that domain which, in 
certain circles, is disdainfully called the "Domain of Politics." 

But the objects of the present war and the many conflicts connected with it, into which 
religious conscience has been drawn, are outside the domain of politics. 

Three times during the last two and a half years, we have endeavored to make the 
voice of the Belgian Episcopate heard outside our frontiers. The first time, to protest 
against the sacrilegious violation of our territory and to affirm the right of existence of 
small nations; the second time, to protest against the calumny which attempted to trans- 
form into culprits the victims of massacres perpetrated by the German armies in Belgium, 
and also at this second time to endeavor to obtain recognition, before an international 
tribunal, of the upright conduct of the Belgian people and the justice of their cause; finally, 
a third time, we appealed to public opinion in order to prevent the entire male pop- 
ulation of our country and of northern France from being carried away, like a band of 
slaves, into the country of the enemy and there compelled to employ arms against their 
own country. 

The mass meeting held at Carnegie Hall, New York, December fifteenth — a magnificent 
assembly of the intellectual, social, and religious elite of the American nation — has shown 
to the world that our thought has been fully comprehended. 

With what pride and what comfort we have heard your speakers proclaim that inter- 
national law, as codified in the Hague Convention — especially Article 46, "respect for the 
rights of the family"; Article 52, which forbids the occupant to subject the inhabitants 
of an occupied country to requisitions which are not "required by the needs of the army 
of occupation"; Articles 50 and 52, finally, of which the first permits the employment, 




I by F Luit Mora 



A MESSAGE FROM CARDINAL MERCIER 

even of prisoners of war, only on works "which have no connection with the operations 
of the war," and of which the second stipulates that "the services required of the inhab- 
itants for the needs of the army of occupation shall not impose upon the population the 
obligation to take part in operations of war against their own country" — with what pride 
and comfort, I say, we have heard your speakers proclaim that this codified international 
law is the fruit of the collective work of civilized nations during many generations; 
hence, it is the common patrimony of these various civilized and civilizing nations, and, 
therefore, to destroy international law and the general interests of civilization, is to pil- 
lage and destroy the heritage of the United States! 

If there is a people in the world whose role it is to safeguard the liberty of labor, is it 
not that nation which, half a century ago, placed the crown of glory upon Lincoln, and 
which is the result of a civil war for the abolition of slavery? 

' But if I might venture to formulate a suggestion, it would be the following: For two 
years we have been lost in admiration of the phalanxes of disinterested citizens who 
spontaneously, leaving their occupations, their firesides, their soil, have come, one after 
another, under the high patronage of the United States, of Spain, and of Holland, to super- 
vise the generous contributions of food and clothing which our sister nations have sent for 
the relief of our distress. If England and France are willing to consent to this relief of 
Belgium, it is because of their faith in your supervision. Why should you not offer to the 
German empire this same service in the domain of morals and of international law? 

Why, since it is a question of protecting a patrimony which belongs to you in common 
with other civilized nations, why should you not, in concert with other neutral states, 
impose upon the power which temporarily occupies Belgium and northern France, your 
right of supervision? 

France and Belgium would have their representatives who, under the presidency of 
the delegate of a neutral power, would form, with the representatives of Germany, an 
international tribunal. This tribunal would examine into the occupation or profession 
of the deported men, or at least of a certain number of them; it would make a preliminary 
classification between manual laborers and civilians belonging to other professions; it would 
ascertain whether the workmen were employed or unemployed at the time of their de- 
portation ; whether or not they were maintained by public charity; whether they subscribed 
voluntarily or under constraint to their deportation and their labor contract; this tribunal 
would ascertain the causes of unemployment; and, finally, it would inquire into the treat- 
ment to which the deported men, here as well as in Germany, have been subjected. 

For some days, a certain number of workmen have been coming back from Germany, 
worn out, thin, ill, declaring unanimously that they have suffered from hunger and from 
cold; many have added that they have been insulted, beaten, flogged because they refused 
to work or to declare themselves voluntary workers. But at the same time that these 
deported men, who have no doubt become more of an incumbrance than a help, have been 
sent back to their firesides, the deportations have been renewed in other parts of the coun- 
try. As I write these lines, levies are being made in Brussels and in ten of the contiguous 
communes. 

Everybody's Magazine is a powerful influence. In placing it at the service of the 
Belgian people, you place it, sir, at the service of the Freedom of Labor and of the Family. 

Belgium once more will bless the great and noble American nation, which has added 
a new and glorious page to the history of civilization. 

• (Signed) D. J. Card. Mercier, Arch, de Malines. 



Le • z?ery»ody«8 Magazine" est xine pulesance. En la mettant au ser- 
vice du peuple beige, vous la mettez, Monsieur, le Dlrecteur, au service de la 
liberte du travail, et de la famine; la Belgique ^^ benira la grande et noble 
nation Am^ricalne qui aura ajoute una nouvelle et glorleuse page h. I'histolre 



de la civilisation. 



y^ A A yiC,J./^^<,^ /t,c^.^ ^t^^<^ 



A PLEA FOR BELGIUM 

npHE grateful homage to. the American nation for the moral and material support 
-'- already given to unfortunate Belgium expressed in the preceding message was 
written by Cardinal Mercier on January twenty-third, just before the diplomatic break 
between the United States and Germany. 

The plight of Belgium is now much more serious, and the suffering of the Belgian 
people is increasing every day. An American relief-agent has written in his report: 

"I have seen thousands of people lined up in the snow or rain, soaked and chilled, wait- 
ing for bread and soup. I have returned to the distributing stations at the end of the day 
and have found men, women, and sometimes children, still standing in line, but later 
compelled to go back to their homes, cold, weak, and miserable." 

Among the destitute there are more than a million children who are dependent upon 
food supplied by charit_v. The suffering of hundreds of thousands of women is no less 
appalling. Innumerable appeals for aid reach Cardinal Mercier every day. He per- 
sonally visits the poor and destitute. Very recently the Cardinal said: 

"I have seen hundreds of my flock in peril and tears. During three days, from morn to 
eve, I went about the regions whence the foremost workmen and artisans were taken by 
force into exile. I entered more than a hundred half-empty homes. Husbands were absent; 
children were orphans; sisters, sad-eyed, and with inert arms, sat beside their sewing- 
machines. A gloomy silence reigned in these cottages. It was as though there were 
a corpse in the house." 

Cardinal Mercier endeavors to relieve the untold misery throughout all the country. 
But he can not aid these unfortunates, on the verge of starvation, without our generous 
financial support. We therefore earnestly appeal to our readers and to all the American 
public, for contributions to this most worthy cause. Your contribution will be used espe- 
cially for the relief of women and children — of orphans; the most pitiable victims of the war. 

Your donation will be a token of your sympathy for the illustrious prelate who has 
won the admiration of the whole world, regardless of nationality or creed. 

W\ donations will be acknowledged in Everybody's Magazine, and the entire amount 
will be forwarded by us to Cardinal Mercier, without any deduction for expenses. 

Make checks payable to: "Cardinal Mercier Subscription," and mail them to Every- 
body's Magazine, Spring and Macdougal Streets, New York City. 



This unccnsored communication from Cardinal Mercier appeared 
exclusively in Everybody's for March. Its importance and timeliness 
is representative of the character of the leading articles in F^verybody's 
each month. 

In January there was an interview with Lloyd George, in February 
a message from President Wilson, in March a study of Leonard Wood, 
in April a message from Cardinal Mercier, in May a first-hand report 
of the progress of the revolution in Russia. 

More articles of like significance will follow, and America's part in 
the world war will be closely covered by Everybody's own representatives 
in Iiurope, including Isaac F. Alarcosson and William G. Shepherd. 

In the field of fiction, Everybody's offering for 1917 is no less 
notable. Among the list of contributors for the year appear such 
names as those of 



ERNEST POOLE 

MARY ROBERTS RINEHART 

IAN HAY 

LINCOLN STEEPENS 

MRS. JACQUES FUTRELLE 

EDWIN LEFEVRE 

ZONA GALE 

OLIVE HIGGINS PROUTY 



The work of these writers, and many others as yet unannounced, 
together with regular department features, illustrations, and news 
articles, make up a well-balanced magazine such as must appeal to 
American readers during this important year in their country's history. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

I iiiiii Hill nil mil Hill mil mil iiiii mii iini miiiiii mi 




020 994 899 




THE RIDGWAY COMPANY 

SPRING y MACDOUGAL STS.. NEW YORK 



1^1 IC7 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



020 994 899 



HoUinger Corp. 
pH8.5 



